Our teen high school age daughter works p/t at one of the Mayfair retail chains and called me unexpectedly for a ride home at 5:30. "No problem" says I completely oblivious to this being Black Friday. Oy. Utter. Gong. Show. Based purely on the mayhem in the parking lot and the major roads surrounding the mall I would say the marketing folks did their jobs well...

Our teen high school age daughter works p/t at one of the Mayfair retail chains and called me unexpectedly for a ride home at 5:30. "No problem" says I completely oblivious to this being Black Friday. Oy. Utter. Gong. Show. Based purely on the mayhem in the parking lot and the major roads surrounding the mall I would say the marketing folks did their jobs well...

Ya, maybe if peeps did not take the day off work today to get in line at 8am at Mayfair, they still wanted to take a look at the/if any deals left at end-of-the-day today.

Ya, maybe if peeps did not take the day off work today to get in line at 8am at Mayfair, they still wanted to take a look at the/if any deals left at end-of-the-day today.

Was watching Global TV (Vancouver) Early Morning News this morning and they had a clip of the 6am opening at the Coquitlam Walmart......wowza. It was completely nuts. Offhand I cannot imagine any item priced at any price point at any time of the year, be it so-called Black Friday or Boxing Day (which is really Boxing Week), that would induce me to camp out overnight or, worse, park myself outside for several uncomfortable nights, or stagger out of bed at 4:30am simply to "get a deal". I value my sleep too much....

Was watching Global TV (Vancouver) Early Morning News this morning and they had a clip of the 6am opening at the Coquitlam Walmart......wowza. It was completely nuts. Offhand I cannot imagine any item priced at any price point at any time of the year, be it so-called Black Friday or Boxing Day (which is really Boxing Week), that would induce me to camp out overnight or, worse, park myself outside for several uncomfortable nights, or stagger out of bed at 4:30am simply to "get a deal". I value my sleep too much....

Ha ha, I hear ya. I used to laugh a bit at A&B Sound Boxing day, because on electronics at least, bargaining was always allowed, if not widely known, so Boxing Day-like deals could be had any time. I miss those days though, A&B equipped my first few cars with kick-ass gear.

Ha ha, I hear ya. I used to laugh a bit at A&B Sound Boxing day, because on electronics at least, bargaining was always allowed, if not widely known, so Boxing Day-like deals could be had any time. I miss those days though, A&B equipped my first few cars with kick-ass gear.

I think you become more cynical or at least more jaded with age; up to age 20 or so Boxing Day for me meant family, extended family and friends of family visiting our place and having a good social time and eating all sorts of the wrong kind of food ; from about the late 70's to perhaps 1990-ish Boxing Day usually meant a damn good house party, or several parties, sampling all sorts of fine spirits and generally getting gloriously and fantastically drunk. Starting about 20-25 years ago the current (shopping) silliness started to take over and I've admittedly never bought in, pardon the pun. I know I'm getting older when I am forced to conclude that "I miss the good old days" before rampant and mostly crass commercialism kind of killed December 26th for me.

But in downtown Victoria, a group of Island businesses are encouraging consumers to keep their shopping local on Black Friday and during the holiday season.

“If you spent just 10% of your money locally, and everyone can do that starting today, it keeps 25% more money here” says Gayle Robinson, owner of Robinson’s Outdoor Store. “It stays and it turns here. When you shop at big box stores, it never touches down in Victoria. It’s gone.”

Robinson, who is also president of the “think local first” movement, says massive shopping sales aren’t sustainable for many independent businesses.

“Support what you want the future to be, if you want your local businesses to still be here, then support them” says Robinson.

Think Local Week, sponsored by Peninsula Co-op, is taking place from November 27 to December 3.